Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

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Attracting Hundreds of Visitors

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Based on the occasional e-mails and the traffic report on norwalkcity.com, the website is attracting fresh visitors on a daily basis. Thus a new blog entry with the City of Norwalk blog.

The Vandalism Report I wrote on April 2009 was viewed numerous times and we can assume that Norwalk residents are concerned for the safety and well being of the neighborhood especially for the homeowners. There is not a single homeowner that would want neighbor vandalism and hate crimes occurring in their neighbor and irresponsible homeowners that neglect maintaining their properties either. This morning, I received an e-mail from a gentleman named Marco that showed deep concern with Norwalk city’s public safety.

Hi there – My name is Marco, I’m a native son of 90650. I moved back to Norwalk after being gone for about 15 years or so, a little over a year ago. Since then I’ve taken up a committed interest in the community (my family is all here) and as such I serve as a Public Safety Commissioner.

I’m well aware of the evolving technology that people are using nowadays. I had a similar thought, that using media such as Twitter, Facebook, etc, was one of the more effective ways to get the message out and reach more people.

For my own part, I created a Facebook group called “Norwalk Rocks!” and I’m using it as my own vehicle for communication. You have the upper hand on me, however :)

Two thumbs up for running this blog. I’d love to maybe chat sometime about issues that you clearly have first-hand experience with. Maybe there is something we can do.

Thanks for your time.
Marco A Guzman

Mr. Guzman took the initiative to look out for the Norwalk residents by serving as the Public Safety Commissioner. Residents like Mr. Guzman are proud homeowners and residents of Norwalk, and take great effort for the betterment of their neighborhood and community. If everyone participates and actually cares to make their neighborhood a safer and peaceful place, progress will be visible everywhere you drive. Unfortunately Norwalk residents are being apathetic about neighborhood vandalism, graffiti problems, noise control issues, and other public safety problems.

If you find relevant news and information regarding the city of Norwalk, please do not hesitate to contact me and factual news and info will be posted on a regular basis to inform the residents of Norwalk. Neighboring cities like Downey and Cerritos are also welcome if the news might have an effect on the Norwalk residents too. Thank you.

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Posted in Community | 1 Comment »

Norwalk Sheriff Department

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Don’t you feel more secure when you see sheriff vehicles roaming around your neighborhood throughout the day and especially during the night? I do. Norwalk is in the County of Los Angeles and not City of Los Angeles so Norwalk is part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Norwalk City has its own Sheriff Department located at 12335 Civic Center Drive, Norwalk, CA 90650 (across the street from the AMC Theatres Norwalk 20).

In addition to the Norwalk Sheriffs, the city also has a Public Safety department that consists of numerous services available to the Norwalk residents. Here are some of the services provided by the Norwalk Public Safety:

  • Community Resource Liason
  • Community Service Work Program
  • Safe Housing and Property Enhancement
  • District Attorney Services
  • Family Intervention Team
  • Neighborhood Police Service Centers
  • Motorcycle Patrol
  • Curfew / Daytime Truancy Enforcement
  • And more

Last night when I was returning home, there were literally ten Norwalk Sheriff vehicles parked in the street in an undercover mode. Their lights and engine were shut off and patiently waiting in their car for a reason. I wasn’t sure of the situation and hurriedly went inside my house. It was a bit unnerving to witness so many sheriff vehicles right in front of your street because anyone can assume that they were not there to patrol the streets of Norwalk, they were there to either capture, search, and/or arrest someone. I can tell you I did not feel very confident with the city especially when you have monthly helicopter runs, reckless drivers, unknown vehicles parked in your neighborhood streets, and people vandalizing your private properties (front lawn, puncturing your tires!).

Don’t get me wrong, there are some good sides to living in Norwalk. Retail stores within driving distances (Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, Starbucks, etc.), public services (LA County Recorders Office, numerous public departments), recreation centers, and great selection of restaurants and fast food joints. But if you happen to compare Norwalk neighborhoods to other nicer neighborhoods, “you get what you pay for.”

SIDE NOTE: On a Saturday night, house parties pop up here and there in Norwalk and depending how close you live near the hosts, your pet(s) will be parking all night and the bass from the music will keep you awake. If you are cool with the loud party and can easily fall asleep no problem with a weekend party, but for those that have a schedule on a Sunday morning, you really need those hours of sleep. If the party happens to go beyond 12AM (there really is not party curfew, you could call earlier), you can call the Norwalk Sheriff Department and make a noise complaint and request service. The operator will jot down the proximity of the party and send an enforcement officer. Within half an hour, the loud music should disappear by then.

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Residential Parking Problems

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

I received two e-mails so far from norwalkcity.com visitors complaining about residential parking and I am also experiencing issues with neighbors taking up so much street parking spaces. Common reason is that those homeowners are renting out their homes and the additional vehicles are occupying the neighbor’s space.

An email from a Norwalk resident:

My neighbor that is about 6 doors down parks his car in front of my house and doesn’t move it the whole week. We have our own cars that we like to park in front of our house and he has plenty of parking in front of his.

Wouldn’t it bother you if you were in the same situation? Two residents near my house comes to mind. They are notorious on our street for having more than five (yes, 5!) vehicles in one household.  One of them are renting out the rooms to two unrelated renters.  It gets annoying when their modded Chrysler 300 with an obnoxious exhaust system blasts your window late at night.

The other household is a bit on the overboard. Less than 2,000 square foot house, more than 12 people lives under the same roof. The household is renting the entire house (property owner lives off-state) and their relatives are all living together. It’s rather easy to spot the house based on the number of cars parked on the streets and on their driveway. They even have a motor boat parked on their dead lawn.

If you are also experiencing problems with your neighbors taking up too many spots on the street parking, please comment here.

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Posted in Community | 2 Comments »

In-N-Out or Five Guys Burgers?

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

City of Norwalk is very fortunate to be a very popular hamburger chain known as “In-N-Out” and the In-N-Out restaurant is also fortunate to be able to have its location down in Norwalk too because of its excellent location on a busy boulevard. The sales figure in this location alone should be above satisfactory to the corporate office because there is not a single moment when the In-N0-Out does not have a customer.

14330 Pioneer Blvd. Norwalk, California 90650
Sunday through Thursday
10:30 a.m.-1:00 a.m.
Friday and Saturday 10:30 a.m.-1:30 a.m.

If you live in Norwalk and have never tried an In-N-Out burger, fries, and a thick milk shake, you better drive out there and try it. But I can’t imagine anyone living in Southern California or Las Vegas that have not tried their burgers yet.
I recently visited Cerritos and went to one of the open air shopping centers and a particular restaurant caught my eyes. With a similar interior layout and colors, a burger chain called “Five Guys” seemed like a copycat of the In-N-Out restaurant. We ended up eating someplace else as I thought Five Guys was just one of those hamburger chains like Fat Burgers, good but not as great as the In-n-Out. Well, the following week, I saw a Nightline Special, where President Obama took a lunch break to a burger chain in Washington D.C., have you guess where? Yes, he went to Five Guys and ordered bags full of burgers for his team members.

Five Guys burger chain started in the East Coast and started expanding new franchises over in the West Coast. Five Guys’ menu are similar to In-N-Out with a bit more selection and options. Five Guys have great ratings on Yelp.com so I will check it out myself.

Cerritos Promenade Mall
11461 South St
Cerritos, CA 90703
11AM-10PM

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Neighbor Vandalism

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

It started a few years ago during the time when my brother lived with me in Norwalk. Our neighborhood street was safe or so I thought. Before my family moved in into Norwalk, our former neighborhood was much safer and everyone respected their neighbor’s property, privacy, and noise level.

But things were lot different here in Norwalk. I noticed that there were more rental houses which brought in more than the average two to three vehicles per households into the streets. Some neighbors in my street had five to seven vehicles in one household! You read that right, five to seven vehicles. Some were just rental properties and others had all their relatives living together in one place.

On one evening, there were two vehicles parked in front of my house street curve so my brother parked his vehicle across the street. He told me that two neighbors were out on their front yard drinking beer and chatting. Then the homeowner where my brother parked his car said not to park your car there. Brother replied that there was no other parking spaces available. The following morning, a beer cardboard was placed on the car’s windshield with a big X marked on it. My brother should have checked his car if there was any intentional vandalism on his car.

Couple weeks forward, my mother had to park her car to on the same curb, and right when she was leaving the vehicle and heading towards the house, that homeowner immediately came out with a broom and started sweeping right towards my mother’s car. Outrageous! That man obviously had bad intentions. My mother had to re-park her car further away.

At another time, I parked my car in front of one of another neighbor only to find that the homeowner turned on his lawn sprinkler unit right next to my car! His sprinkler was spraying water unto my wheel’s rotor on the rear right wheel. I reparked my vehicle elsewhere.

It is frustrating to have this type of neighbors that who knows when they will vandalize your private property. I can’t monitor their actions or have time to record video footage of their vandalism.

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Posted in Community, Real Estate | 2 Comments »

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